Ideacafe appoints Rahul Karwa as account planning lead for Ideacafe Roots

Rahul Karwa

Ideacafe.agency is pleased to announce the appointment of Rahul Karwa as the Account Planning Lead for its Rurban experiential division, Ideacafe Roots. This division is focused on addressing brands’ communication needs in line with their expansion strategies across the experiential landscape.

A Stanford-certified Design Thinker and an NMIMS Management Graduate, Rahul brings nearly 22 years of diverse experience across Sales, Marketing, and Communications, collaborating with leading corporates such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Procter & Gamble (P&G), Asian Paints, Castrol, Western Union to name a few. His passion for uncovering powerful insights has driven him to engage deeply with consumers, shaping his ability to craft impactful, consumer-centric strategies and award-winning experiential campaigns recognized at national and international forums.

Rahul’s career spans leading organizations like Ogilvy, Reliance Capital, WPP, DDB, and VML, along with entrepreneurial ventures such as The Bucketlist and Shipyaari. His adaptability, strategic thinking, and creative acumen have consistently driven success, blending a focus on building businesses with an enduring passion for ideas at the core of his work.

Sandip Bansal, Practice Head at Ideacafe Roots, shared his excitement: “We are extremely excited to welcome Rahul to the Roots team. His expertise will further strengthen our ability to provide our clients with human-centric, innovative approaches to unlock the vast potential of rural India, which represents over 12% of the world’s population.”

On Rahul’s appointment, Nabendu Bhattacharyya founder ideacafe.agency said “ My single-minded focus is on satiating the need of brands and pooling in the right talent who are adept at delivering brand objectives . Rahul is a proven talent, having personally worked with him during my Ogilvy days, and being fully aware of his capabilities I am certain his credentials are perfectly aligned to our vision of providing bespoke idea driven solutions. I am confident that his inclusion in the team will further strengthen our brand centric approach”

“Since its inception a few months ago, Ideacafe Roots has quickly grown, onboarding over 25 professionals across markets and working with a dozen national brands. The division is expanding rapidly, with the goal of becoming the largest Rurban brand in the next 2-3 years.” Bhattacharyya concludes.

Reflecting on his new role, Rahul shared:

“Fifteen years ago, I took a leap from planning to reviving a struggling agency – a defining moment that fuelled my passion for business turnarounds. While building businesses, my love for ideas remained central, making this opportunity with Ideacafe Roots feel like a full-circle moment to craft ideas with meaningful and lasting impact.”

With Sandip Bansal, an authority on Rural markets, and other passionate bunch at Ideacafe Roots, Rahul’s inclusion has further strengthened Ideacafe Roots’ resolve to bring in the Human Centric Approach into communication planning; a process for achieving goals for its client partners whether it be for a product adoption or behaviour change.